Jacksonian Democrats

The Jacksonian Democrats was a populist faction of the Democratic-Republican Party and Democratic Party that existed from 1825 to 1848. The faction was named for its leader, Andrew Jackson, who promoted the strength of the presidency and executive branch at the expense of the US Congress, supported the broadening of public participation in government (through universal white male suffrage and the elimination of property and tax requirements for voters), the "spoils system" of patronage, laissez-faire capitalism, opposition to banking, and supported expansion in terms of Manifest Destiny. Presidents Jackson, Martin Van Buren, and James K. Polk were Jacksonians, and future president Andrew Johnson was affiliated with the Jacksonians before they were pushed off the political stage by the emergence of the slavery debate following the Mexican-American War's end in 1848.